As I wrote some time ago, Justin Trudeau is one-third of the global left’s “Golden Trio” — and the first to face the test of re-election.
While Emmanuel Macron and Jacinda Ardern are yet to face the judgement of voters, Trudeau faced Canadian voters late last year — and barely limped over the line. The thumping majority that swept Trudeau into office in 2015 evaporated and his Liberal party was forced into minority government.
Trudeau’s near-undoing in 2019 was a rash of scandals, most notably the SNC-Lavalin affair. Trudeau was caught out trying to improperly influence then Attorney-General, the popular and respected Jody Wilson-Raybould.
Now, another corruption scandal is threatening to undo Trudeau’s fragile toehold on minority government.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau admitted on Monday that he “made a mistake” in not recusing himself “immediately” from discussions about whether WE Charity should administer a federal student volunteer grant program.
Trudeau said he should have done so given his immediate family’s relationship and financial ties to the WE organization.
Trudeau is accused of handing a near-billion-dollar contract to a charity which pays his own family handsomely.
Controversy over WE Charity’s contract has dominated debate on Parliament Hill for weeks. It was additionally fuelled last week with news that several of Trudeau’s close relatives have been paid large sums by a WE affiliate to speak at WE events in recent years.
WE Charity confirmed last week that Trudeau’s mother, Margaret Trudeau, had been paid $312,000 for speaking at 28 WE events between 2016 and 2020 through a speakers’ bureau. Trudeau’s brother, Alexandre Trudeau, was paid $40,000 for eight events in the 2017-18 academic year through the same speakers’ agency[…]
The prime minister’s wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, was also once paid in 2012 by the charity and she currently hosts a podcast on well-being for WE, for which she isn’t compensated, according to the charity[…]
The prime minister isn’t the only senior Liberal official whose family has close ties to the WE organization. The charity also confirmed last week that two of Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s daughters are connected to the group, one of whom is a paid contract employee.
Trudeau and his Finance Minister are both facing ethics investigations and possible criminal charges.
Last week, the opposition Conservatives said they believe the controversy warrants a criminal investigation and asked RCMP to launch a probe into whether the Liberal government breached the law[…]the RCMP’s media relations office said the force “generally does not confirm or deny if an investigation is underway unless criminal charges are laid.”
Trudeau has issued an abject apology – which has only deepened suspicion.
The only other person to have investigated the Prime Minister under the Conflict of Interest Act says his public apology this week presents a “fairly certain finding of a contravention[…]It’s the admission that he feels that he has failed to recuse, which is a requirement of the Act. So he’s effectively said, ‘I’ve not followed the Act,’ as far as I can see.”
It’s not just the opposition Conservatives Trudeau has to worry about. Minor parties are rattling the sabres, too.
Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet said on Tuesday that despite the ongoing WE Charity controversy, it was not time for another federal election, but once more called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step aside.
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